We all know that the Korean entertainment industry has a harsh environment, to face a variety of unspoken rules, and even the threat of gangsters, but in addition to these negative effects, the most severe test for Korean male artists is military service.
Military service is no exception to South Korea's law, and for male artists, leaving the rapidly changing entertainment industry for 2 years at the best of their time may be replaced and forgotten anytime and anywhere when they come back.
Therefore, many Korean male artists have begun to find ways to maintain the heat during military service, such as shooting works in advance to play in those two years, or relying on fan support to maintain the heat, these business-based operations are understandable, but some people want to take shortcuts, find ways to evade military service, and even change their nationality for this purpose, and be expelled by the South Korean government, he is the former Hanxing top Liu Chengjun.
In 1976, Liu Chengjun was born in Seoul, South Korea, from a rich family, but also had the conditions to cultivate many hobbies, such as singing, dancing and taekwondo, etc. When he was 13 years old, he moved to the United States with his family because of his parents' work, but he did not change his nationality at that time.
After graduating from high school, Liu Chengjun tried to find an opportunity to debut in the United States, but after several measurements, he still felt that South Korea's entertainment industry was more suitable for his own development.
So at the age of 18, Liu Chengjun returned to South Korea alone to study at Seoul National University of the Arts, and during his time at the school, he was found by the entertainment company to start training him in the direction of an all-round artist.
At the age of 21, when he graduated from college, Liu Chengjun released his debut album "West Side" and became famous in one fell swoop, setting a record of 600,000 sales and winning the weighty Best Newcomer Award that year.
In 1999, the second album "for sale" dominated the major music charts for more than a month, breaking its own record with 800,000 sales.
At that time, the aesthetic of Korean entertainment had not yet deviated, and he had not yet begun to paint exaggerated makeup for male artists, leaving flowing long hair, all saying that judging a man was not handsome would see if he dared to cut an inch, while Liu Chengjun had been holding a three-inch head from his debut, erecting a muscle block, dominating the stage with the image of an absolute tough guy, and was the solo of South Korea's top stage, known as the "Asian Dance King", with his own strength and the hot combination of just red.
From his official debut in 1997 to 2001, in just four years, Liu Chengjun released six albums, and Zhang Zhang is a classic, when the streets and alleys of South Korea are playing his songs, everywhere is his advertising, Liu Chengjun has become a top Korean artist, as long as there is a place where he appears, it must be a sea of people, accompanied by one scream after another, is the sexiest man cast by a vote of Korean girls.
In the Korean entertainment industry, which is so fiercely competitive, Liu Chengjun has created a myth that no one can match, and is a veritable superstar of the King of Heaven.
For fans who began to pay attention to Korean entertainment very early, Liu Chengjun wrote a strong stroke in their youth memories.
But soon Liu Chengjun will be the age of military service, the career is just red when to completely leave the stage for two years, which is a very harsh career ice period for all Korean male artists, the entertainment industry is changing rapidly, not to mention two years, two months of no movement Fans will brush down, two years later to return to the peak is almost impossible, not to mention that at that time, South Korea's entertainment industry is in an accelerated development period, the back of the rian tiger, Kim So-hyun has appeared on the drama stage, Liu Seung-joon will be replaced anytime and anywhere.
In addition to himself, the media fans and the public are also aware of this situation, so they all want to see how he will choose, so the media is more and more concerned about when he will serve in the military, and Liu Chengjun has also publicly promised to serve in the military, but in 2002 he made a decision that everyone fell through the glasses.
In 2002, Liu Chengjun suddenly refused to serve in the military in South Korea as an American citizen, this news caused an uproar, the South Korean government and the public are very angry, although for many years the Korean men's desertion of military service incidents have been banned, but as a top entertainer, a public figure sought after by millions of fans, ignoring national laws and regulations, blatantly evading military service, has played a very bad negative guiding role throughout the country.
So the South Korean government immediately issued a ban on Liu Chengjun from entering South Korea forever, canceling his Korean citizenship.
This practice obviously played a role in killing chickens and scaring monkeys, and played a good warning role for Korean male artists who wanted to evade military service through various partial doors in the later period.
After the incident, he tried to explain and redeem, but the South Korean government and people no longer wanted to give him a chance, and Yoo Seung-joon changed from a national idol to a national public enemy.
From a top star to being spurned by thousands of people, Liu Chengjun's acting career instantly fell to the bottom, and he had no choice but to return to the United States to wait for opportunities.
During the period, he tried to return to China to explain the situation to the South Korean government and apply for a South Korean visa, and the media who received the news lined up at the airport, but Liu Chengjun was not allowed to enter, and was stopped by the staff at the airport, and a reporter interviewed him, and Liu Chengjun was frustrated and said that he felt embarrassed.
Because of this ban, Liu Chengjun did not even see the last side of his relatives when he died, in the trough of life, his middle school classmates are also his first love girlfriend has been with him, in 2005 Liu Chengjun and his wife held a wedding in California, usa, ending ten years of love long-distance running into the palace of marriage, the wedding Liu Chengjun is more mixed feelings several times crying.
In 2006, Liu Chengjun tried to develop in China, releasing two Chinese albums "Promise", "Rebirth" and the Korean album "Rebirth of Ysj", but unfortunately did not make any splash.
At that time, the Chinese music scene was in the heyday of fairy fighting, and the new generation of idols from South Korea, such as rian, bigbang, Oriental Shenqi, exo, etc., had divided up the import market to the end, and Liu Chengjun himself was saddled with the infamy of "deserters", and the road to comeback was full of thorns.
Until 2010, Liu Chengjun had the privilege of meeting Jackie Chan, and successfully signed a contract to become a movie star, and learned to speak fluently in Chinese after only one month of events according to Jackie Chan's requirements.
Although Jackie Chan later ridiculed his later Chinese level has not improved anymore, but compared with other Korean stars who have developed in China, Liu Chengjun's Chinese level has been quite good, at least when participating in the interview program, he can communicate smoothly.
After signing the contract, Jackie Chan let him participate in the movie "Big Soldier" as the prince's younger brother Wen Gongzi, although in the whole film this is just a role of playing soy sauce, but Liu Chengjun completed very seriously, in order to be able to use the original dubbing and hard practice for a long time Chinese, the filming process with a diligent and down-to-earth style has also been recognized by Jackie Chan, after the release of the film, many viewers have left a deep impression on this long-haired but muscular Wen Gongzi.
However, when Jackie Chan took the film to South Korea to promote it, it was vigorously resisted by The Korean audience because of the use of Liu Chengjun, which attracted a lot of negative public pressure. But under the support of Jackie Chan, Liu Chengjun still stood on the stage of the Huading Awards that year, and Daxiu's figure ignited the whole audience with its explosive solo, which was quite the trend of the return of the king.
Subsequently, he participated in the movies "Tough Guy 2", "Zodiac", "Taiji Man", "King Kong", etc., with a muscular tough guy image, fist to flesh fighting scenes, won the love of many Chinese audiences.
In 2013, he also participated in the TV series "Jingzhong Yue Fei" as Jin Wushu, unlike previous movies from beginning to end, Liu Chengjun in this TV series has many exquisite and delicate emotional scenes, especially the scene where he worships Yue Fei, which has left a deep impression on the audience.
During the promotion of "Jingzhong Yue Fei", Liu Chengjun also participated in many variety interviews, and the audience found that the tough guys off the screen were actually very shy, spoke slowly and logically, and often laughed embarrassedly, which formed a stark contrast with the characters in the film.
At that time, in order to maintain the image of Liu Chengjun, the company unanimously said that he joined the United States in order to marry his wife, but as his popularity became higher and higher, more and more netizens who understood the truth, and various resistance voices gradually rose.
Under the pressure of public opinion, liu chengjun gradually withdrew from the Chinese film and television circle after 2015, and the road to comeback was strangled in the cradle.
After all, with the rapid development of the Internet, the orientation of online public opinion should not be underestimated, and no entertainment company will take such a big risk to choose an artist who is responsible for the "deserter" name.
It was also this year that Liu Chengjun was interviewed by the Hong Kong media, and the South Korean radio broadcast the interview throughout the interview, in which Liu Chengjun apologized to the South Korean people on his knees for changing his nationality to avoid military service 13 years ago, and in the interview he choked up several times that he did not dare to watch Korean television for many years, nor did he dare to watch relevant news on the Internet, afraid that he could not withstand the pressure of public opinion, and regretted that if he turned back the clock, he would definitely go to military service.
But this wave of sincere apologies and bitter forgiveness did not achieve the desired effect, and then Liu Chengjun filed a lawsuit with the South Korean court hoping to get a South Korean work visa, and the Seoul Administrative Court held a hearing on the case the following year, and finally rejected Liu Chengjun's appeal on the grounds that the withdrawal of the ban would affect the Korean military service system. In 2017, Liu Chengjun appealed again, but the result was still the same.
In 2019, Liu Chengjun was interviewed by sbs reporters, telling that he did not join the United States for military service, but that his family had been going through immigration procedures before that, when his father and the company hoped that he could develop in the United States and South Korea in the future, so he joined the United States.
Seventeen years later, the South Korean government still refuses to issue him a visa, and Mr. Yoo believes that some politicians are making a big fuss about him.
This remark once again aroused widespread discussion in South Korea, and then the reply given by the South Korean Military Affairs Agency was only nine words: "Public opinion does not allow Liu Chengjun to enter."
However, Liu Chengjun never gave up the lawsuit, and finally in 2020, the Seoul High Court sentenced Liu Chengjun to sue the South Korean Consulate in Los Angeles for refusing to issue visas, and Liu Chengjun won the lawsuit.
His return to China is a big step forward, but the court can rule him in favor, but it cannot be enforced, and the attitude of the consulate in the end is not to give him a visa, but if the Military Affairs Department still imposes interference, this judgment may still be a piece of waste paper.
Looking at the current Korean entertainment market, "pseudo-brides" are prevalent, and 100% tough guys like Liu Chengjun are really rare, if he did not desert military service in that year, he should have been a god-level figure in Korean entertainment by now, and it is really a mistake.